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Jakob Lutz

PhD fellow

Subjects
Financial institutions ESG Sustainability Green transition Social responsibility Global goals

Primary research areas

Sustainability due diligence in finance

How institutional investors operationalize risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence across public and private markets, including delegated models. Focus on cascading expectations, minimum safeguards, data limits, and leverage pre/post-investment to turn procedures into outcomes.

Responsible & sustainable investing

Bringing BHR and SRI/CSR into dialogue to explain gaps between policy and practice. Uses institutional logics, decoupling, accountability and fiduciary duty to study how stewardship, mandates and regulation shape what investors actually do—and where governance reforms could help.

Just & fair energy transition

Social and environmental impacts of the energy transition in renewables and transition minerals. Examines consent, labour and benefit-sharing, and how collective investor action and active ownership can mitigate systemic supply-chain risks while aligning returns with a just transition.

Bridging responsible investing and human rights for a just transition.

Turning investor responsibility into real world outcomes 

I study how institutional investors can make the green transition both fast and fair. My work focuses on risk based human rights and environmental due diligence in complex investment chains. I connect Business and Human Rights, Sustainable and Responsible Investment, and organization studies to explain why policies do not always lead to results and how to close that gap. 

My goal is to reduce harm linked to renewable energy projects and mineral supply chains. I examine how investors build and use leverage before and after investment, how minimum safeguards can be applied when data are limited and control is indirect, and when collective action among investors is needed to move from box ticking to real change. 

I work closely with practitioners through interviews, case studies, and document analysis across Danish pension funds, development finance institutions, and banks. 

Recent research projects

FRONTIERS

“Frontiers of natural resource and sustainability governance for a just energy transition” is a five year Carlsberg funded project led by Professor Karin Buhmann. We study mining on land and at sea, investor leverage, risk based due diligence and Rights of Nature to enable a just and fair energy transition.
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HUMAC

At Private-sector engagement in humanitarian action (HUMAC) we study how companies and humanitarian actors collaborate in crises, identifying effective, ethical, and sustainable ways to organize partnerships that improve aid delivery. The project is funded by the Velux Foundation.
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Outside activities

Studenterrådgivningen, 2025–present

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